The 21-year-old frontman was released by Forest at the end of last season having made just one senior appearance and has agreed a deal to join National League side Hartlepool.

Thorne, a powerful striker will spend the next three months at Victoria Park after impressing on trial, though the nature of his contract allows the deal to be extended to the end of the current campaign should it go well.

Boss Craig Harrison admits his club, relegated from the Football League on the final day of last season, have to be realistic about who they can attract, and admits their North East location and non-league status makes things tricky.

James Thorne made his Forest debut at Millwall last season (Image: Mark Fear)

“We have to be realistic about who we are, where we are and who we can attract at this point in the season,” he said.

“In an ideal world, we’d love to be bringing in a senior player because we haven’t got a senior player at that end of the pitch. But they don’t grow on trees.

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“There have been three players I’ve tried to sign or made inquiries about over the last two weeks that have not come off for geographical reasons. The players have not wanted to come this far north from down south.

“People have to understand it’s not easy, it’s not a case of ‘we need a striker, so let’s get one in’. “There could be four or five circumstances which come into it, availability, timing, travel, finances,” he told the Hartlepool Mail.

James Thorne scored regularly for the Reds development squad (Image: Dan Westwell)

Thorne’s one appearance in the Reds senior side came last August in the 2-1 EFL Cup win at Millwall, though he came off at half-time having picked up an early yellow card at the Den.

The big striker, a former Manchester City youth product, had impressed in the Reds development squad attracting interesting from Football League clubs, though a move never materialised after arriving from Macclesfield Town in 2015.